An often-overlooked truth about grace is that it enables us to live a life of victory. That doesn’t mean we never make a mistake but it does mean that we can grow and improve. Grace means that our failures have been paid for and we can continually come to Christ and find Him willing to pick us up from whatever ditch we have fallen into so we can keep going in the right direction.
We don’t have to stay in a pit for the rest of our lives and we don’t have to be defeated by human weakness. The apostle Paul once heard these words from the Lord: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Those words are a comfort to us who, in our weaknesses, still need to draw on God’s grace.
A few years ago, a young woman handed me a small article she had found. It describes what grace can do for each of us. The short article said:
“Longfellow could take a worthless piece of paper, write a poem on it, and instantly make it worth thousands of dollars—and it’s called genius. Rockefeller could sign his name to a piece of paper and make it worth millions of dollars—and it’s called wealth. A mechanic can take material worth only five dollars and make it worth five hundred—and it’s called skill. An artist can take a fifty-cent piece of canvas, paint a picture on it, and make it worth thousands of dollars—and it’s called art. Jesus Christ can take a worthless, sinful life, wash it in His blood, put His Spirit in it, and make it valuable to God—and that’s called grace.”
No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, God has grace for us. We’d be crazy to pass up a deal like that.
